This invention relates broadly to the art of mail-preparation machinery, and more specifically to machinery for assembling various letters and inserts and stuffing them into envelopes.
Many businesses, such as insurance companies, send out large mailings of various advertising materials with which they include response cards for receivers to respond with. It has been found that some arrangements of the advertising materials and response cards generate higher percentages of responses than other arrangements. In this respect, one arrangement which produces a relatively high percentage of response is a single letter sheet having a pocket formed on the back thereof with a return postcard positioned therein. The letter has a cut-out opening therein through which the address of the sending company on the card can be seen. It is intended that a receiver reads the short letter and responds thereto by simply pulling the card out of the pocket, filling in his address thereon, and mailing it.
Although such an arrangement of mailing material is known to be effective, there are problems in preparing such an arrangement. In many cases, the cards are inserted into the letters pockets by hand in order to avoid these problems. One of the problems is that when the card is inserted into the pocket, it often catches on an edge of the cut-out opening. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus for inserting a card into a pocket formed on a letter sheet which avoids catching the card on an edge of a cut-out opening in the letter sheet.
Another problem is that when the letter is folded the folded portions thereof make it difficult to open the pocket for inserting a card. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a letter/pocket arrangement and a machine for inserting cards into the pockets which produces reliable opening of the pockets for insertion of the cards.
Normally, in the prior art, the pockets formed on letter sheets are open at the sides thereof and cards are, therefore, inserted therein from the sides. However, it has proven to be very difficult to develop machinery for inserting the cards into the pockets under this arrangement. Thus, it is also an object of this invention to provide a letter/pocket arrangement and a card insertion method which can be easily adapted to automation.
In addition to "hand inserting" cards, however, some specialized machines for inserting cards into pockets of letters are used; however, the letters still must thereafter be processed by an envelope inserting machine for inserting the letters into envelopes. Thus, it is yet another object of this invention to provide a machine which completely prepares letter/pocket mailings in one continuous process.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an uncomplicated, and relatively inexpensive-to-manufacture method and apparatus for preparing letter-pocket mailings.